Murmurs of discontent in BJP's West Bengal unit

Kolkata: Notwithstanding its improved performance in West Bengal Assembly polls, infighting appears to have broken out in state BJP with a section of its leaders accusing the present dispensation of promoting "non-political" people and giving in to the whims of RSS.

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh, however, refuted the charge and said the organisational setup has been made keeping in mind the interests of the party.
Considered as a back-bencher in state politics, BJP had shot into limelight in 2014 Lok Sabha polls where it secured 17 per cent vote riding on the Modi wave.

For the first time the BJP had won three seats in the last Assembly election in the state fighting on its own.

A state BJP leader, who did not want to to be named, said infighting and groupism within the party's state unit have intensified after former state president Rahul Sinha handed over the charge to Dilip Ghosh, an RSS pracharak.

Ghosh was inducted in the party from RSS in early 2015 and took over the reins of the state unit in December 2015.

Several leaders, who used to hold important positions in the party during the tenure of Rahul Sinha, have either been sidelined or have been reduced to a non-entity within the party.

Many district presidents and organisational secretaries have also been removed in last six months.
The disgruntled section of the state BJP blamed "over-interference" of the RSS in the party matters and promoting "non-political" elements who don't have a sound political understanding either about the party or Bengal politics.

"All leaders who had held senior positions during the tenure of Rahul Sinha have been completely sidelined. Those who are non-political elements, who neither have a political background nor any understanding, are being promoted. This will harm the prospects of the party in near future," a senior state BJP leader told PTI on condition of anonymity.

BJP national secretary and observer Sidddharth Nath Singh told PTI, "It is not the question of sidelining anyone. Whenever a new president takes over, he prepares his team by combining both experienced and new leaders and that is what is being done in Bengal BJP."